


The universe will write you poetry

by septnanis



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Introspection, M/M, Motorcycles, Post-Canon, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Post-Kingdom Hearts III - Re Mind DLC, Romance, San Fransokyo (Big Hero 6), Self Confidence Issues, injuries, operation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/septnanis/pseuds/septnanis
Summary: When the dust has finally settled, and there's time focus on themselves, Riku goes to San Fransokyo to get an old injury fixed and Sora goes along to support him.And figure out that even though he's got the power of friendship, he's alright on his own.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 85





	The universe will write you poetry

The day Riku transformed his Keyblade from a motorcycle that Sora had to squish into so he could sit behind him, into a larger form that gave Sora the ability to sit comfortably behind him was the day Sora realised ‘this is it, this is serious’.

It wasn’t as if their relationship hadn’t had its fair share of moments of serious growth. Sora may make friends easy but there was only one person in the world, all of the worlds, he called his best friend. When he found out said best friend was in love with him, had been for years and it had been the driving force between many a decision, both bad and good, it had only skyrocketed their relationship to a level of serious growth that Sora had never thought possible.

From friends to best friends to boyfriends. It was one step after the other that brought Sora to a new place, a new feeling. There were _rules_ to being boyfriends too, as they both found out. Saying hello and saying goodbye was punctuated with affectionate gestures, like hugs and kisses.When they made plans, they checked with each other. When Riku transformed his Keyblade into his motorcycle, there needed to be room for Sora.

“Got everything?” Sora asked when Riku stepped onto the motorcycle. He looked like a character from a comic book, in his big boots and sleek leather jacket. The last time he went to the hairdresser, his hair was cut a little short, shorter than it had ever been. Sora liked to rub his fingers through the soft little hairs at the nape of his neck.

“If I don’t, it’s too late now,” Riku replied. Sora nodded and put a hand on Riku’s shoulder so he could step up and sit behind him. “Ready?”

Sora wrapped his arms around Riku’s waist and wiggled his hips from side to side to get comfortable. “Ready!” He shouted as Riku turned the engine on.

He kicked off the pavement in the alleyway in San Fransokyo, looked left and right to see if any one was coming and turned smoothly into traffic. They always transformed Riku’s Keyblade into his motorcycle in the same alley, out of sight but with easy access to the main road. For all that San Fransokyo was quite possibly the most modern place Sora had ever been to, he suspected turning a giant key into a motorcycle might shock people.

Traffic was busy that early in the morning. People going to work and school and wherever they were going. _Rush hour,_ Hiro had explained to him the last time he was there and asked why it was so busy in the morning, _it’s the same before dinner time._ It had never occurred to him, having grown up where he had. Riku didn’t like rush hour, because he had to stop at so many traffic lights or when the roads jammed up, but Sora loved it. There was so much to look at.

That morning’s rush hour wasn’t too bad, as they cruised along the wide roads. The sky was a pretty lavender and gold, as the sun made its way over the horizon. The air felt pleasantly cool against Sora’s face, rushing through the little openings between his hair and the helmet Riku insisted he wear. He was glad he wore his coat.

During the year Sora had been away, Riku had apparently attempted to learn how to summon a glider, to make travel between worlds easier. And had apparently failed miserably at it. Instead of amusing Sora it had shocked him, his Riku, failing at something? Until Riku was made to demonstrate just how bad he was. Riku had grimaced through it but to Sora’s surprise, had smiled brightly when Sora summoned his glider in one try.

Still, Sora wouldn’t complain. Riku had found a way around his failure and with a little training, summoned Braveheart into a sleek black and silver motorcycle. It didn’t help with travelling between worlds, but Riku didn’t mind using the Gummiship. The first few times Riku summoned the motorcycle and held out a hand to Sora to join him, Sora was sure he would explode with how many butterflies came to life inside him.

It felt good to learn to do things for the sake of it. Not because of necessity or because someone or something needed saving. Suddenly life was fun again, and it suited Sora very well.

Riku gently came to a stop in front of a large building. The neighbourhood it was in was a long sweep of similar buildings, all made of metal and glass, shimmering in the morning sunlight. Some of them gave off a golden hue.

Riku got off the motorcycle first and without even looking at Sora, held out a hand for him to take. Sora didn’t need to the hand, but he took it anyway, and hopped off the motorcycle.

They both unlatched their helmets and Sora handed his to Riku so he could put them in the compartment under the seat of the motorcycle. Where they went when Riku turned his motorcycle back into Braveheart, Sora would never know but would always marvel about, because magic was still such a wonderful thing to see.

Riku looked around if anyone was looking their way and when he decided the coast was clear, he turned his motorcycle back into his Keyblade with a flick of his wrist, Braveheart forming for just a moment before immediately disappearing in a light shower of silver and purple light.

“Good thing it’s still early,” Sora said, moving his shoulders so his backpack would sit more comfortably there. “Otherwise we would have had to find an alley. But I don’t think there are a lot around here.” He looked around, seeing little space between the towering buildings.

“I could’ve put it in the parking garage, but this worked fine,” Riku said. He was being short and almost professional sounding, which meant he was nervous, so Sora just smiled at him and curled his hand around Riku’s.

“Let’s check in!” Sora said, pulling Riku up the stairs and into the building they stood in front of.

——

One day, Sora had already decided for himself, they were going to buy an apartment or a house on all of their favorite worlds so they could visit whenever they liked but still sleep in their own bed. It wasn’t that he didn’t like sleeping in hotels, especially hotels as nice as the ones in San Fransokyo but he always felt like he had to be careful or quiet.

The hotel they were staying in was very fancy, because Riku chose it. Riku liked fancy things, though he was subtle about it. He liked wearing nice clothes and staying in nice places, and he liked it when Sora would make him fancy food. When he saw how at ease Riku was in places that made Sora a little nervous sometimes, Sora wondered if Riku had been born on Destiny Islands by accident.

He was glad he was, though.

“Are you nervous?” Sora finally asked him.

Riku set his bag down on the big bed and turned to Sora, a hand reaching out instinctively to touch his wrist.

For a moment he looked like was going to protest, wave off Sora’s concerns like he often did, in order to appear in control and strong at all times. Maybe it was because it was so early, or because they were really alone, but Riku deflated just a bit and gave Sora a smile.

“Can’t hide anything from you, can I,” He said more than asked, as if the answer was already apparent. “But yeah… I guess I am.”

Sora stepped up to him and covered the hand on his wrist with his own. It had taken Sora ages to find out just how bad Riku’s wrist hurt him. It had taken him long enough to find out how Riku had ever hurt his wrist and how it had hurt Sora’s heart to hear Riku say ‘ _I deserved it, I did horrible things_ ’. He had been trying to protect Sora, bring Sora back, and Sora had never believed in people getting what they deserved. Riku was a good person, but even good people make bad decisions sometimes, he knew that.

Hiro had mentioned off-handedly one of the many times they were there, if Riku had ever thought about getting an operation.

On Destiny Islands there had been a doctor, who could set bones and cure illnesses fine, but when Hiro looked at Riku’s wrist and said ‘it’s probably nerve damage’ they both looked at Hiro they way they always did when he said something they had never heard of before.

Magic could cure injuries as they happened. Not injuries of lingering past mistakes that had lingered on for too long.

They made an appointment, with the help of Hiro, at a hospital and after many x-rays and scans and doctors poking and prodding at Riku’s wrist, they confirmed that his wrist had ‘extensive nerve damage and permanent internal bruising’. When Sora saw Riku blink away emotion as the doctor explained he could repair most of the damage and physical therapy could help with the rest, he swallowed down the lump in his throat.

He waited until he was very much alone before bursting into tears. Riku had suffered in silence for years because he thought he _deserved_ it. If he saw Sora crying, he would have worried even more.

“Let’s go out!” Sora said brightly and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “We’ll have fun and you’ll forget all about your operation. Besides, I’ll be there the whole time so you don’t have to worry.”

Riku gave him a funny look, his brow furrowed, before he put an arm around Sora’s shoulders, pulled him into a headlock and rubbed his knuckles hard over Sora’s brown hair, laughing as Sora yelled and tried to squirm away.

“Fine,” Riku said, still laughing when Sora managed to break free. “But you’re paying for dinner.”

——

After they spend the whole day walking around and going to all their favorite places in the city, they end up in a convenience store near their hotel. They order a pile of food, all of their favorites, and sit at the window, watching people pass as they eat.

“I should’ve brought my book to read,” Sora said. “It’ll probably take a while before you’re done.”

“Hey, no,” Riku said once he’d swallowed a mouth of spicy noodles. It leaves a speck of red sauce on the corner of his mouth that Sora longed to wipe away with his thumb. “You should go out and have fun.”

Sora didn’t know why, but he felt a strange pressure. He wasn’t a shy person but the idea of Riku in the hospital while he was out having fun felt wrong.

“But that’s not fair,” Sora said, picking up his chopsticks but no food. “I can’t go out and have fun without you.”

Riku gave him a look. “Of course you can,” he said. “You can find some new spots for us to check out together. We always go to the same places.”

The nerves in his stomach intensified, Sora never saw himself as someone who went out and had fun on his own. He liked having the energy of other people to bounce off of.

Still, Riku looked at him like he insisted. He knew Riku went out by himself all the time. They lived deeply intertwined but often separate lives, so when they were together it was an immediate connection at the hip but otherwise, they learned to make do with long distance. Riku made do by entertaining himself. Sora made sure wherever he went there was someone he knew.

He reached out and swiped the red spot from the corner of Riku’s mouth. The flush that appeared on Riku’s face was kind of sweet.

“Alright!” Sora said brightly. “Bet you a thousand munny it’ll be really boring, though.”

Riku took a sip of his horrendous strawberry milk and gave Sora a rogueish grin. “I’ll take that bet,” he said. “You’re a really fun guy, you know. It’s high time you figured that out.”

Sora didn’t know about that. But for Riku he was willing to try.

——

The hospital was one of the biggest buildings Sora had ever been inside. It was quiet but busy at the same time, everyone speaking in hushed voices. Every so often, a voice would ring out over the speakers, calling someone’s name to come to some place.

The smell was interesting too, and Sora found himself gripping Riku’s hand a little tighter.

“Hey,” Riku said, picking up on it immediately. “Don’t worry, you’re supposed to be my rock.” There was a grin on his face, which meant he was joking around but still, Sora felt a little embarrassed. The reason he came with Riku was to support him and make him less nervous.

So Sora straightened his shoulders and gripped Riku’s hand back hard. “I am!” He said decidedly, and smiled as wide as he could. If Riku could sense he was putting on a show, he certainly couldn’t tell because Riku’s face softened at the sight of him.

Checking in to the hospital wasn’t nearly as fun as checking into the hotel. Riku had to fill in forms and have his picture taken, then he had a meeting with a nurse who asked him all kinds of questions, about allergies and side effects.

“Don’t worry,” The nurse said, her pretty face made even prettier by the gentle smile on it. She put a hand on Sora’s arm and he felt silly again for having to be comforted again. He was supposed to be Riku’s rock, not a pebble in his shoe. “Your friend will be just fine. They do these kind of operations a dozen times a day.”

Sora shook his head. “He’s my boyfriend,” Sora corrected her. She nodded knowingly and winked at him.

“Well, you’re a great boyfriend for coming with him to support him,” she said. Sora knew it was to make him feel better, but it did so he let it, especially when Riku reached over to take Sora’s hand in his own and squeeze it.

“We’re going to take you to your room and get you ready for surgery,” the nurse explained. “Because you’ll be receiving a general anaesthetic, you’ll be out for a little bit. When you wake up you’ll be a little woozy and you may experience some nausea, so I recommend not eating any solid foods for the next twenty-four hours,” Riku turned his head to Sora and made an exaggerated pouting face, which made Sora laugh. “We’ll give you plenty of painkillers and we recommend lots of rest for the next few days. You should be feeling just fine by then. Your doctor will inform you about what’s to follow when it comes to your physical therapy.”

Riku nodded and thanked her.

“Say,” he said and the nurse turned back to him. “Do you have any recommendations for places to see? He’s going to go out to kill some time.”

The nurse smiled. “Oh sure! Do you know the old town?” she asked, turning to Sora. Sora nodded. He and Riku went there sometimes to visit the onsens. “On the west side of it, there’s a beautiful park and a temple, you should go see it. Just take the blue line down to old town and get off on the stop before you get there, it’s right around the corner.”

Sora grinned. “Thanks! That sounds really cool,” he said.

Once the nurse was gone, they sat in the little room and waited to be picked up.

“Be sure to take lots of pictures,” Riku said, and reached up to brush his knuckles over Sora’s face. Sora nodded. “And guess you can’t bring me back anything to eat.”

Sora was sure he could find something that could keep until Riku was feeling better.

A few minutes later, another nurse picked them up from the little room they were in and led them to the ward where Riku would be staying for the day. The nurse handed Riku a hospital gown.

“You can put that on and put your clothes in this closet,” She gestured at a closet next to the wide hospital bed. “Everything seems to be on schedule, so you should be picked up in about half an hour.”

“Uhm, how long will it be until I can pick him up?” Sora asked, still feeling a little strange at leaving the hospital without Riku.

The nurse didn’t seem to notice. “Surgery’s about an hour, but he’ll be out for a few hours after that. If you’re back here around four, it should be fine.”

Sora nodded and then turned to help Riku change, who was already sitting on the bed to take his boots off.

“How about this color?” Riku asked, nodding at the peach colored hospital gown at Sora was holding. “Not really my thing.”

Sora laughed and stepped up so he could help Riku undress. Once his jacket and shirt was off, Sora took the gown and bunched it up so he could easily put it over Riku’s head. Riku held his arms up dutifully as Sora brought the gown down. It was definitely a new look for him, peach definitely not a color usually in his palette. Black, blue, gray and maybe a splash of white or yellow but definitely no peach.

He looked good in it of course, but Riku had always been one of those people who looked effortlessly good in everything.

_Got yourself a looker_ , someone said to him once. He wondered what people said about him, when Riku talked about him to other people. Hopefully good things.

“I think you look cute,” Sora said with a smirk, which turned into a shriek when Riku smacked him on the hip. “What! You look cute! Stop it!” He jumped back from Riku’s fingers, which shot out to tickle him, Riku’s face devilish. However, there was very little room between the edge of the bed and the wall, so Sora literally stuck between a rock and a tickling place so he threw out the only defence he could think of and wrapped himself around Riku like an octopus.

As expected, Riku’s arms wrapped around him. “Good call,” he said, looking both amused and impressed. “You know hugs are my weakness.”

“I just didn’t want to die a horrible death by tickling,” Sora said. “You’re ruthless, you know.”

Riku’s hands took a handful on each side of Sora’s waist, whatever there was to actually grab, and squeezed. It wasn’t ticklish, but it still caused a tiny shudder down Sora’s back. “Only with you… it’s so easy,” he said.

Sora made a face like he’d swallowed something sour and was just about to retaliate in epic fashion when they were joined in the room by the same nurse as before. Sora pulled away and smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry to disturb, guys,” she said. “But it’s time we got Riku ready.”

The sheepish feeling made way for nerves again, but Sora remembered he was a rock in a tumultuous sea, and he would be steady and calm for Riku. So he nodded and smiled at Riku. “Piece of cake, right!”

Riku nodded and climbed up on the bed, fiddling with the covers beneath him. In the peach colored hospital gown, he looked a little vulnerable. Sora had seen him in varying kinds of dress, down to nothing at all, but he’d never seen Riku look like that. Even his lightly tanned skin seemed to pale.

“Don’t worry,” Sora echoed to Riku, like he had to Sora before. “You’ll spend the whole time sleeping. And I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and find super awesome new places for us to visit!”

It seemed to work, because Riku relaxed just a bit against the lifted back of the bed.

“Ready to go?” The nurse gently nudged them to say goodbye.

Both of them nodded. Sora leaned in and gave Riku a kiss on the cheek and then on the mouth, even though he wasn’t one much for public displays of affection, neither of them were really. But it felt important. “See you in a little bit,” Sora said, blue eyes bright.

“See you,” Riku said, his whole body starting to relax.

Sora turned to the nurse before he left the room. “Thanks for taking care of him,” he said.

The nurse smiled and gave him a pat on the arm. “He’ll be good as new when you get back.”

Sora gave her a thumbs up and another wave to Riku as he turned to leave the room. As he walked away he heard the nurse saying something to Riku and Riku laughing in reply. Even by the time he got the end of the hall, he could still hear Riku laughing and it made him less nervous to leave.

——

It was times like that day that Sora realised he was somewhat a bumpkin. No matter how many times he visited San Fransokyo, the underground railways always threw him for a loop. At least the trams in Twilight Town just went around in a circle. No matter where he got on, he’d end up at the right station eventually.

The station of the underground was packed with people, and no matter how much Sora loved to people watch, it completely disoriented him after being in the quiet calm of the hospital.

And he was alone.

He wasn’t afraid. There were far worse things he had faced and probably still would in his life, than a crowded underground station. But without anyone to talk to or look at, he felt small. He stopped before the little gates that lead to the trains and looked up at the big lit up sign. He knew one of the lines would take him to the stop nearby Hiro’s house, but he’d promised Riku to go out and explore, not go to places he’d been before.

He could always drop by Hiro later, if he had enough time left.

With six hours to pass, Sora looked up at the sign and found the line that led to the old town.

Last stop before old town, he could remember that.

He walked down and held the card he bought at the entrance over the scanner at the gate and grinned when the little doors popped open to let him through. He picked up his pace and tried to keep up with the rest of the people around. As he walked down the large hall, paying close attention to the stairs he had to walk down to get his line, he felt a little bounce in his step. At that pace, he could pretend he was a San Fransokyo local, on his way to school or work. He took a confident left turn and walked down the stairs to get on the train. After only a minute or two of waiting arrived and after one last check to be sure he had the right one, he got on and took a place in between the other commuters, hanging on to one of the straps that swung back and forth once the train started to move.

If people watching was fun outside, it was even more fun in the train. Everyone seemed to be in a world of their own, looking down at their phones, books or sleeping. Some of them even just stared out in front of them. From young to old people, Sora subtly let his gaze slide along the car. There was an old woman with hair the same color as Riku’s, so silver it appeared almost lavender in the bright light of the train. A young, harried looking mother with a child sleeping on her lap. Three students in their uniforms, giggling over something on their phones. A business man in a rumpled suit, hanging from one of the overhead straps, his head lolled to the side as he slept standing upright.

_All hearts are connected_ , he heard his own inner voice say. Even if none of these people had anything directly to do with one another, and would likely never see each other again, they were connected just from sharing a train, sharing a world they lived in.

If Riku had been there, maybe Sora would never have noticed how many interesting things there were to see.

He was glad his best friend told him to go on an adventure.

——

The next-to-last stop was called Temple Park, which seemed a little on the nose to Sora, but when he exited the underground station and followed the nurse’s directions he could see why.

The park was unlike anything he’d ever seen. Lush green, but so much so that it covered a few buildings and even a car that stood in the park. It was as if nature had slowly started to creep back over the city, swallowing it in leaves and plants and flowers. There were children playing in the green grass, and a few people here and there walking around.

In the distance, Sora spotted the temple the nurse had mentioned.

He took his Gummiphone out of his pocket and noted the time. By then, Riku was probably already in surgery and Sora felt an urge to run straight back to the hospital and sit by the door until they were done, but he pushed the urge down and entered the park.

He snapped picture after picture, of trees with long, willowy branches that seemed to wrap around the structures that remained there like they could pick them up off the ground. Riku would love to see it, he liked seeing impressive nature scenes, like mountains and rivers and fields.

After walking around for almost half an hour, Sora sat down on a bench to rest for a moment. Next to him, an old man sat, eating something wrapped in leaves.

When the old man noticed him, he smiled. “Would you like some?”

“A-ah, that’s alright!” Sora said, waving his hands. It looked so good though, like pastry and candy at the same time. It gleamed a little in the sunlight and Sora could smell the sugar from where he sat. “What is it?”

The old man ignored his dismissal and held one out to Sora. “Just some sweets,” he said. “My wife makes them for me, even though she says I should lose weight.”

Sora laughed and took it, bowing his head lightly. “Thank you,” he replied and took a hesitant bite. It was soft and sugary and it left his lips and teeth feeling sticky, but there was an underlying taste of fresh fruit that made Sora excited. “Wow! These are really good…” He imagined it was easy to eat a lot of them, as he eyed the old man’s round stomach. “Your wife must be really good at cooking.”

The old man nodded. “She is,” he said. “But she’s really good at everything. Some people just have that talent, you know? They look at something once and they can just do it.” Sora nodded and took another bite of the sweet. He knew a little about that. “That’s how we met. I was working construction on her parents’ sweet shop, and she came out and started hollering about the noise.”

Sora finished the sweet, rubbing his lips together to taste more of the sweetness. Once he’d swallowed it down, he laughed.

“And she tells me how I should start doing my job, so I won’t be such a bother,” the old man said, his aged face wistful. “Turned out she was right, I was going about it the wrong way. Decided right then and there I had to marry her.”

“Bet you she just came out to holler at you because she wanted an excuse to talk to you,” Sora said, smiling wide.

The old man laughed. “Maybe! But she was really just stubborn as anything,” he said. “I’m lucky, because she keeps me on my toes and gives me sweets, even though maybe I shouldn’t.”

They talk for a few more minutes, before Sora realised he wanted to go see the temple and he had more adventuring to do. It would be silly if he got back to the hospital and all he had to tell Riku was that he sat on a bench with an old man.

Sora stood and bowed his head again. “Thanks for sharing your sweets with me, sir,” he said.

The old man waved his hand. “Not at all, one less for me is always a good thing,” he said. He reached into his pocket and held out a card. Sora reached out and took with both hands. “Come to our shop sometime, I’ll make sure you get a discount. My son runs the shop, and you remind me a little of him.”

Sora thanked him profusely and put the card carefully into his pocket. He bid the old man goodbye and set off.

——

Sora was lost.

He visited the temple, bought a good luck charm for Riku and rubbed his hands in the smoke. He even let one of the people there teach him how to do a prayer properly. So far everything seemed to be going well. In order for it to feel like a real adventure, he decided not to take the underground train back, but just walk.

But San Fransokyo was huge and by the time he realised how far he’d walked, he knew he’d lost his way.

Now he stood before a great billboard, a beautiful picture of a beach. White sands, blue water, palm trees bent and surrounded by colorful, lush tropical leaves and flowers. It was as if someone had plucked the picture Sora had of home from his mind and stuck it on a billboard.

He felt horribly homesick all of a sudden.

It only took him a moment to realise he didn’t really have a home anymore.

He only saw his mother once a month, a dutiful visit he made gladly, but when he walked the little roads on Destiny Islands or even sat in the sand of the play island, he felt like he was visiting a memory from his childhood, warm and familiar. But not his home anymore.

Other places he went to, worlds he knew by heart with how many times he’d visited, never felt like home either. They felt familiar to Sora, because he saw his friends, but they never felt like the place he belonged.

Maybe he stopped belonging to a single place the minute he ended up in Traverse Town years ago. He remembered being homesick, missing his parents and his room and Riku and Kairi, crying into his pillow while Goofy and Donald subtly tried to skirt around his sorrow while still trying to be comforting.

_Find your destiny!_ , the billboard said.

Sora held up his hands and thought about it.

His destiny was protecting worlds, wasn’t it? Making sure his friends were safe and could live their lives happily.

He was lucky, because his friends always protected him too, but they all seemed to have found a place they belonged, a place to call home. Suddenly, or maybe he had for a while now and he’d only just realised, he wanted that too.

“Hey, are you okay?” A voice startled him out of his reverie and Sora jumped back in shock. A young woman with long black hair, braided in a way that looked like cords, was hanging out of the window of the building Sora was staring up at. “Whoa! Easy now… you’ve been staring up at the sign for ten minutes. Are you okay? She repeated.

Sora nodded and put a sheepish hand behind his head. “Ehehe, just got lost in thought, I guess! Sorry,” he said.

She shrugged. “You don’t have to apologise,” she said. “You any good at dancing? We’re starting some freestyle in a minute, you can join in if you like.”

Sora didn’t know what freestyle was, but he sure did love dancing.

Once inside, he was greeted with a large group of young women and a few guys. They were a myriad of colorful hair and clothes that made Sora long to go shopping again in San Fransokyo.

“Love the kicks, man,” one of the guys said. Sora looked down at his shoes. “You at one of the other universities?”

Sora knew what a university was, but he’d certainly never been to one. Still, he nodded. “Uh, yeah!” Luckily the guy didn’t press any further, just uttered a ‘cool’ and walked off.

The young woman from before walked up to him. “I’m Tina,” she said. “I’m not gonna introduce you to everyone else, because who cares…” some of the girls shrieked a few choice words at her which made her laugh. “What’s your name?”

Sora put both hands behind his head and grinned. “I’m Sora!”

“What’cha doing all the way out here, Sora?” Tina asked.

Sora thought hard for a minute what to say. _I’m from another world and my best friend needed medical care that we can only get on this world, but if I tell you that it’ll probably blow your mind, and my friend who is a talking duck will find out and beat me over the head with his magical staff,_ didn’t seem like a story that Tina would be interested in hearing.

“Just waiting for someone,” Sora said. “I have to be back at the city center at around four so I decided to go for a walk, but I got lost.”

Tina shrugged and gave him a grin. She turned to the group. “Everyone, this is Sora! He’s gonna join us in the freestyle.”

If dancing was fun, then freestyle dancing was even more fun.

The music was loud and heavy and everyone seemed to just be focussed on pulling off the coolest looking move. Even though everyone had seemed quite blasé about him joining before, once they started dancing together, it was like they had been friends for years.

Once it was over, Sora almost felt sad.

“Alright, so who’s this Riku anyway?” Tina asked, her head cocked.

Sora looked up from tying his shoelaces. “Oh,” he supposed he did talk about Riku a lot. Who could blame him, Riku was just really cool. “Riku’s my boyfriend.”

It was like Sora had spoken a magic word because within the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by girls. At least ten sets of glittering eyes looked down at him in anticipation. Sora liked that about girls, they were always so happy to share things. When he told Kairi he felt that same way, she just flicked his nose and gave him a pretty smile.

“Well, show us!” One of the girls cried out. “I bet he’s super cute!”

“And tall,” another said.

“And funny,” yet another gushed.

“And galant!” One of the girls said and all of them giggled.

Sora looked at them with wide eyes as they constructed his boyfriend in their heads. He wondered if this theoretical boyfriend was half as kind and strong and handsome as Riku was.

He took his phone out and scrolled through his pictures of Riku, of which there were many much to his best friend’s chagrin, and picked one of his favorites.

It was a picture of Riku on the other side of the room, and he had his head tilted so he could see past someone else to look straight at Sora, gaze soft and sweet. Whenever Sora entered a room and Riku was in it, it was a guarantee that Riku’s eyes would find him.

“This is him!” Sora said and turned the phone around. The cacophony of happy noise made Sora laugh out loud and surrender his phone willingly so his new friends could scroll through his pictures of Riku, singing his praises loudly.

It occurred to Sora that having a boyfriend was a bigger deal than he ever imagined, but the pride made his skin feel fit to burst and he didn’t mind for a second. Apparently things that were a big deal to him could be big deal to others, even if they’d only just met.

When he left the building, bag stuffed with flyers for dancing classes and directions to the nearest station, Sora looked up at the billboard and grinned.

——

Sora ended up having to hurry back to the hospital.

Once he had found his way again, he ended up at a market that sold all different kinds of foods, from kinds he knew to kinds he’d never seen before in his life. It was like a huge market place, people bustling back and forth, trying to sell whatever it was they were making.

Sora sat down at one of the stalls and ate so much his pants felt a little tight, but he was laughing so much with the people sitting next to him that he didn’t mind. He took pictures of the market, of the woman behind the stall folding dumplings, who grinned and winked at him and stuck a few in a little container to take with him, assuring him they’d stay fresh for a few days. Of the two happy business men who were a little tipsy and the shy couple on his other side who ended up cracking jokes and laughing loudly once they’d shared a few dishes.

He walked from the market to a tall building that had floor after floor after floor of clothes and shoes and bags and who knew what else. By the time he was halfway up the building, he looked at his Gummiphone and realised he was supposed to be back at the hospital in less than an hour.

Sora took a few pictures of the view from the building. One his way down, he passed by a shop that sold accessories and jewellery. In between the necklaces, he spotted one with a stylised heart as a pendant, that reminded Sora of Riku’s Dreameater sigil.

It was easy to forget Riku was capable of diving into his dreams, until he would show up in the midst of a nightmare and fight off whatever was tormenting Sora. Then he remembered, with clarity, how far Riku had gone to protect him. Even though Riku claimed Sora kept him safe all the time, it felt at times as if the scales were tipped unevenly.

He bought the necklace and smiled as the woman wrapped it for him.

If he had to wait for a meteor shower to give it him, Sora would be waiting a long time, but he’d figure something out.

By the time he got back to the hospital, he was running and out of breath, determined to be there when Riku woke up.

The nurses looked like they were going to tell him off for running in the hospital, but decided against it and let him go.

To both his dismay and relief, Riku was still fast asleep when Sora entered the room.

He still wore the peach colored hospital gown but now his hands and underarm were wrapped in a thick layer of white bandages and gauze. There was an iv stuck to his other hand, slow clear droplets in the bag that hung from it next to Riku’s bed, and he seemed to be sleeping deeper than Sora had seen him sleep in ages.

“Hey,” Sora said, still a little breathless. He leaned down and kissed Riku’s forehead.

“He should wake up soon,” a nurse said from the doorway, still grinning at him. “Everything went well, once he’s awake the doctor will fill you in. He’s a real model patient.”

Sora shrugged. “Oh sure, but that’s just because you’ve all just met him,” he said. “He’s the most stubborn person I know.”

The nurse laughed. “I’m sure you know best,” she said. “But I bet you’re a match for him.”

After she left, Sora pulled up one of the chairs in the room and sank down into it. Riku’s chest rose and fell in such a calming rhythm Sora could feel his own eyes slip shut, his day of adventure catching up with him.

——

“And with physical therapy, you’ll be good as new in no time,” Sora woke to the sound of someone new speaking. “Ah, here we are.”

There was a man at Riku’s bedside, in a white coat. “You must be Sora,” he said. “Riku told me all about you.”

Riku turned his face to Sora and Sora sighed loudly.

Both the doctor and Riku laughed.

“It wasn’t that bad, I swear,” Riku said, still grinning. “I only told him nice things.”

“That’s not…” Sora said, looking flustered. “I’m just really glad you’re awake!”

The doctor nodded. “Everything went great,” he said. “We managed to fix most of the damage, which is a relief. I was just telling Riku how physical therapy should help with fixing whatever’s left. It won’t be completely gone, but it’ll be much better, and he won’t be in pain all the time.”

Riku shifted in bed and Sora swallowed.

That had been what had driven Sora to urge him to look for help, when Sora asked him if it ever hurt and Riku said ‘all the time’ with such nonchalance it broke Sora’s heart.

“That’s great!” Sora said and almost reached out to grab Riku’s hand, but stopped when he realised it would be the one in bandages.

The doctor looked down at the chart in his hand one last time. “Must have been one heck of a fall, to mess your wrist up so bad,” he said. Riku pointedly didn’t look at Sora, looked down at his lap and then up at the doctor again.

“Yeah,” Riku said. “It was.”

The doctor stayed for a little longer, modestly accepting their thanks before leaving them alone in the hospital room.

The silence between them wasn’t awkward, silences were rarely awkward between them. But there was something pointed about it. One heck of a fall, Sora heard the doctor say again in his head, and remembered Riku on their island, swallowed by darkness. Riku tossing his little play sword at Sora and leaving him all by himself. Riku shutting a door for what seemed like forever in Sora’s face.

If Sora ever given up on him, if he hadn’t looked for Riku after the island fell, if he hadn’t picked up that wooden sword and ran after Riku to stop him from making more horrible choices, if he hadn’t effectively told Kairi he couldn’t go home unless Riku was with him, he wondered if Riku would have kept falling. Falling deeper and deeper into darkness.

Maybe he would have, but the reality was, he hadn’t.

Riku watched over Sora when he slept for a year, Riku turned into a person who used him horribly so Sora could be safe, Riku had transformed his very being so he could keep Sora safe in his dreams.

Riku was Sora’s proof that he could be strong on his own, whether he had his friends or not.

Sora liked to think he was Riku’s proof that there was no depth he could fall into that he couldn’t light his own way back with.

“How do you feel?” Sora asked. Riku turned to him and smiled sleepily.

“Tired,” Riku replied. He looked tired, but not unhappy. “Did you have a good time?”

Sora shifted in his seat. It felt a little strange to be talking about himself when Riku was the one in the hospital bed. “I did! I’ve got lots of stories to tell, and a whole bunch of new places to go,” Sora said, face excited. It seemed to please Riku, even if he looked like he was about to fall asleep again. “Hey Riku?”

Riku hummed in response. Sora stood and sat down on the edge of the bed. He put a hand on the side of Riku’s face. His face felt warm to the touch, a little warmer than usual but not unpleasantly so.

“Remember when we were in Shibuya?” Sora asked.

“How could I forget?” Riku said, his voice a little slurred.

“When we were with the Master of Masters,” they didn’t speak often about what had happened there, especially not about the cloaked, mysterious figure who had turned out to be the root cause of everything they had been through the past few years, but sometimes it would come up, like a memory of a dream. “He said something that I haven’t been able to get out of my head, because I didn’t know what he meant.”

Riku leaned his face into Sora’s hand and sighed. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“He said… the universe is endless, and so is light and darkness. At the center of it, there is you. When one attempts to take hold of the other, the balance is lost and you’re no longer at the center,” Sora repeated, like he’d been repeating it in his head over and over. “But when the balance is there, stand where you are, at its center and the universe will write you poetry.”

Sora looked down at the peach colored gown Riku wore, where underneath, Sora knew his heart beat.

“He did beat it out of the park when it came to dramatic monologues,” Riku said, looking both thoughtful and mildly amused.

“I think I know what he meant now,” Sora said.

_Find your destiny!_ the sign told him.

“I believed for the longest time that my friends were my power,” Sora said. “And without them, I had nothing. But if I stand at the center, with my own strength… people will find me, and I’ll find them and I’ll only feel stronger, even when I feel weak or lost.”

He scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “Ah, sorry,” he said. “I had a lot of time to think today. Being alone isn’t as scary as I thought, but it does give you loads of time to think about stuff.”

Riku reached up a hand and ran his fingers through Sora’s bangs. The hand that had been hurt protecting Sora. The hand that had been fixed now, because Sora was protecting Riku, even against himself, against his own regrets.

“That’s okay,” Riku said. “You’ve got all the time in the world now, to find out where you stand. And you’ve always been strong enough, I’ve always believed that.”

Sora nodded.

“Thank you for giving me a little of your strength,” Riku said. “I don’t think I could’ve done this alone.”

“I think you could,” Sora said, and believed it with all his heart. “But you don’t have to, you never have to.”

He thought about an extra seat on a motorcycle, spending extra money to sleep in a fancy hotel, pushing Sora to go out on his own and meet new people and see new things to believe in him when all hope was gone and travelling halfway across the universe so he could bring him home.

Home didn’t need to be a place, if Riku was there. So he could go wherever he wanted and never feel homesick again.

“I found a place that sells square donuts,” Sora said, lightening the mood with a grin.

“No way!” Riku said, laughing at the sudden change of subject. “That sounds amazing. I want to eat two, no three…”

The necklace in his pocket may not make its way to Riku via a meteor shower and a promise that would last a lifetime, but with the universe all around them, ready to surprise them at every turn, it would find its way.

Sora would think of a good promise to make, to go along with it.

It sat in his pocket and waited for the moment to come.

**Author's Note:**

> This seriously came into existence solely due to the fact that one of my biggest pet peeves in the fandom is that it's some sort of widespread thing that Riku's injury that was given to him by Roxas is hilarious and that Roxas thinks it' super amusing that he it still bothers him. I'm not even 100% sure that it was ever canonically confirmed that Riku had lasting injury due to it, but I think it was said in an interview that's why he had the bandage on his arm and had his hand hooked into his pocket. Anyway, it just bugged me. 
> 
> So I decided to write a fic where Riku gets it fixed and Sora comes along because he's a supportive boyfriend. In the end it ended up being from Sora's pov and him learning that he's cool just as he is and having the power of friendship and a boyfriend who tosses himself into heartless blenders for you are just some of the perks of being a great guy.
> 
> I almost made Riku put a little side-rider on the motorcycle, but riding behind him is obviously a lot cooler. 
> 
> Also I write MoM as both super snarky and super prose-y, so in this fic you get to see the prose-y side of him. I can't wait to see more of him. 
> 
> As usual, I very much hope you enjoyed reading this.


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